


There Is Nothing Can Console Me

by nazgularepeopletoo



Category: Peter and the Starcatcher
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Peter Pan, Post-Canon, this is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 14:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8581285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazgularepeopletoo/pseuds/nazgularepeopletoo
Summary: Lord Aster realises that he's left something very important on Neverland; his heart.





	

Molly was understandably upset when the Wasp sailed swiftly away from Mollusk Island. She had left her first love behind on the beach, watching as the ship disappeared over the horizon. Well, if it could be called a first love. She was only 13 after all. But Molly wasn’t the only one who was having regrets. Mrs. Bumbrake, for example, regretted not spending more time with Fighting Prawn and Lord Leonard Aster… Well, let us just say that Lord Aster was very familiar with the feeling of regret. He had left someone on that beach as well. 

He managed to make it all the way back to England before actually allowing the feeling to really make itself known, and by that time it was almost too late. It still took him a few weeks to summon up the courage to ask Captain Scott to delay his trip to the South Pole and help him find the tiny island not on any maps. What would Molly say? What would he  _ tell _ Molly? The Captain and crew would be hard to convince as well, but not entirely for the same reason. Yes they had been captured and locked up too but at least they shared the same  _ inclinations.  _ As it was, he had nothing to tell his daughter, not even when he was preparing to go. 

 

“Father, what are you doing?” She had come in late at night when he thought she was asleep, catching him packing his small trunk. “Are we going on a mission?”

“No, not you.” Straightening, he resumed folding his shirts. “This is a top-secret mission, meant for me only.” He winced at the lie, hoping that Molly wasn’t paying too much attention. She was. Not only did she frown at the wince, but she crossed her arms as well.

“I’m a fully fledged Starcatcher now, Father, remember? Any mission you’re assigned I should be there to help.”

“No, Molly that’s..” he turned to face her. “It’s very dangerous, I don’t want you getting hurt.” She scoffed.

“I’ve fought a pirate, Father, what can be worse than that?” Leonard winced again, folding his hands in front of him.

“It’s top-secret, Molly, I’ve told you. I can’t divulge a word.” At this point he just wanted her to go before she was able to try and guess what he was up to. 

“This isn’t fair!” The girl stamped her foot, which was very unbecoming of someone who was nearly fourteen years old. “I haven’t even heard of another batch of Star Stuff falling to Earth! What is so secret??” 

“It’s nothing, Molly,” he snapped, perhaps more sharply than he had intended. “Mrs. Bumbrake will take good care of you while I’m gone. Not go to bed, it’s late.” Molly just stared at him for a moment, her lips pressed tightly together as the silence stretched out between them. 

“You’re going back to Neverland, aren’t you..?” Leonard could feel himself going pale. “You are! Why? Is it the Star Stuff? Did it evaporate? Did something happen?” Suddenly her eyes lit up. “Are you going to get Peter? Is that why you didn’t want me to know?” His heart sunk and he swallowed at the sheer expression of joy on her face. It took him another moment to answer. By then her excitement had diminished.

“No… I’m not going back for Peter. We’ve been over this before.” Her face fell immediately, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. “But! I will see him, so if you have something you want to give him…?” Maybe that would distract her long enough for him to finish packing and get ready to leave. 

As he had hoped, Molly bolted out of the room. With a sigh, he quickly threw a few more things into his trunk and latched it. He then leaned out the window and motioned to a man waiting in a carriage. They had it all figured out, though it was a little later than Leonard had been expecting. The sailor would bring his trunk down, they would go to the docks and immediately the ship would leave port. He would wait in the house only long enough to kiss Molly goodbye. Unfortunately, Molly arrived back at his rooms just as the sailor was pulling the trunk down the stairs. She stopped in the hallway, furrowing her brow.

“Father? You’re leaving tonight?” He swallowed again.

“Yes, it’s very urgent. About the Star Stuff.” The mention of what she had hinted at earlier should have been enough to keep her from asking questions. It almost wasn’t, but she just nodded slowly before handing Leonard a small beaded bag. 

“For Peter.” She hesitated a moment before throwing her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. “Safe travels, Father.” He nodded and dropped a kiss on her head. 

“Thank you, Molly. I’ll see you soon.” 

 

He nearly ran out of the house and into the carriage. He felt horrible for lying to Molly but there was absolutely no way that he would be able to tell her his real intentions without her getting angry at him and he was not ready to leave on a voyage with his only daughter being angry at him. He still didn’t know what he would tell her once he got back, but that was something for future Lord Aster to deal with. 

**********

It took much longer than Leonard had expected to find the small island again, and by the time they  _ did _ find it, he had almost given up hope. They had also almost run out of provisions and patience. When the men cried out that land was spotted, a collective sigh ran through the ship. Leonard made sure that he was on the first long boat that went ashore. Halfway there, Captain Scott touched his arm.

“Leonard… What are you going to do if he's not there?” Aster froze.

“What do you mean..?” He knew exactly what Scott meant.

“Last time we saw him he.. Was missing a hand. And this island doesn't exactly have the most advanced civilisation. There's a very high likelihood that…”

“No!” The rest of the men in the boat turned to look at them. Aster blushed. “Sorry.. I didn't mean… He’ll be fine.” He said this with such conviction that Scott decided it would be easier to leave him alone.

He thought about this eventuality for the rest of the trip. When they got to the shore, Aster was the first one off the boat. But than he hesitated. He had  _ no idea _ where to even start searching for people, and he really didn't want to have another run in with the Mollusks. Luckily, he didn't have long to wonder, as only moments later, a large group of people came charging out of the trees. It wasn't the Mollusks, based on their dress, so it must have been the Pirates. They looked horrible; their clothes barely more than tatters, dirt smudged faces and scratches covering their exposed skin. Leonard frantically searched the horde for a flash of red, but couldn't find it. Trying not to panic, he moved in front of them, taking a deep breath and yelling.

“WHERE IS YOUR LEADER?” The Pirates froze. One stepped forward. He looked familiar, the second in command, perhaps? 

“Do you mean the one they call-”

“Black Stache, yes.” Aster huffed impatiently, not wanting to have to go through the whole ordeal of revealing the name. The pirate looked taken aback.

“Well, who's asking?” Holding back a scream, Leonard forced a smile.

“Lord Leonard Aster.” It felt good to see the slightly panicked look on the pirates face. 

“I…” He looked uncertainly at the other pirates with him. “I suppose you can…. Follow me.” He motioned for the rest of the men to stay on the beach and turned back to the trees, assuming Aster would follow. He was correct in his assumption. 

 

The two men walked for what seemed like hours. After a while, Leonard realised that he had just left the rest of his crew on the beach to deal with the pirates. Hopefully they were alright. He didn’t want to be trapped on this island forever, after all. Before he could think on it further, however, the pirate in front of him stopped short.

“He’s through there,” the pirate said, pointing at a small overhang of vines. “Good luck with whatever you’re doing.” He was gone before Aster could say anything in response. 

 

Well that was strange…. With a shrug, Leonard pushed through the vines, only to have to immediately drop to the ground as something flew past his head. Was that a… bone? Cautiously, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, only to find himself face to face with a pair of boots and the point of a sword. 

“Who are you? What are you after? How dare you invade my space with this gross breach of priva-” Leonard was suddenly upright with a clatter, the sword having fallen to the ground as the hand that was holding it yanked him up by the collar. He found himself staring at the world’s “Most dangerous” pirate, Black Stache. Silence filled the small cave for a while, both of them just staring at each other. He went to say something, but the pirate beat him too it. 

“Leonard….” Aster swallowed, blushing a bit at the use of his given name.

“James.” The pirate blinked, having forgotten that the lord even  _ knew _ his given name. He let go of Aster’s collar, taking a step back. 

“What are you doing here? How did you..”

“I, well… I came back for you. To, um…….. Take you home… If you want to that is I’m not going to.. Make you..!” He blushed harder, avoiding looking at both James’ face and right arm. 

“You mean get off of this god forsaken island with these god forsaken natives and that god forsaken boy? OF COURSE I want to!” He suddenly pulled Leonard into a one-armed hug, holding him tightly. Leonard squeaked, his arms automatically moving to reciprocate it and his entire face turning red. 

“W-we should probably be going then, shouldn’t we..?” Suddenly, he remembered the bag in his waistcoat pocket. “Oh! Wait..!” He gently pushed away, fixing his coat. “I do have one more thing to do here. You wouldn’t... “ He momentarily forgot what he was saying as he finally made eye contact with the pirate again. James’ eyes were dark, and Leonard couldn’t tell if he was angry or… something else. He blinked and glanced away before resuming, trying to get it done with as quickly as possible. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Peter is, would you..?” 

It took nearly ten minutes for Leonard to calm Stache down. He hadn’t realised that talking about Peter would have been that big of a deal, but after promising that no, they weren’t planning on rescuing the boy as well, and that it was for Molly, the pirate finally agreed to show him where the boy’s were hiding out. Unfortunately, it was further inland than he had wanted to go. But, he followed Stache into the trees, once again not thinking about telling the others where he was going. 

**********

The jungle was thick; vines dropping down and branches overlapping the path. It was one of the single worst experiences that Leonard had ever had to deal with, including being held hostage by pirates. Stache was loud, as always, talking about god only knows what as they walked. Leonard smiled. This was nice, despite the jungle surrounding them. It was nice to just walk along and listen without having to respond to anything. When they got to the clearing surrounding the hideout, Stache stopped, refusing to go any further. Attempting not to roll his eyes, and failing, Leonard moved forward by himself, growing unexpectedly nervous. 

It was peaceful in the clearing; nothing moved and birds chirped quietly, which helped Leonard to calm down. Of course, it was the moment he relaxed that the ground quite literally gave out underneath him. He screamed. He was pretty sure Stache screamed too. 

“See???” Stache seemed to have crept a bit closer to the center of the clearing, if the closeness of his voice was any indication. “This is why I won’t go near this place! It keeps doing things like this!” Leonard blinked.

“This has happened before?” There was silence. He waited a moment before sighing. “Are you nodding your head?” There was another pause.

“Yes….” At least the pirate had the decency to sound sheepish. 

“Well… I suppose all we can do is wait and see if someone comes to find me. You should probably go back into the jungle.” Stache hummed his agreement quietly, presumably moving back to the tree line as Aster sat down to wait.

Waiting was one of Leonard’s strong suits, as he spent most of his life waiting. Despite this, it didn’t take long for the lord to get impatient with waiting. It probably had something to do with the dirt and bugs and definitely had something to do with the fact that the sun had moved to a point where it was shining directly on him. No one was coming. Finally, after what was about 20 minutes, he sighed and stood up. 

“James? James!” he called, debating on what to do with the gift. He could always set it on the bottom of the trap and hope nothing came by and ate it. Yes, that would have to do. 

“Yes?” Aster jumped. Stache had finally deemed it safe enough to travel all the way to the edge of the pit and was staring down at him.

“A little help, please?” It took a moment for the pirate to understand what he was asking.

“Help how?” Aster huffed, crossing his arms. 

“I don’t know, grab a vine or something, there are plenty of those laying around.” Stache nodded and disappeared. While he was gone, Leonard knelt down, gently placing the small bag in a divot on the ground. He managed to scratch “From Molly, to Peter” in the hard dirt before he was hit in the head with what felt like a snake. It was a vine, luckily. He shook his head and pulled on the vine, judging that it was strong enough to hold his weight. It took a moment for him to realise that Stache probably wasn’t strong enough to pull him up, with him missing a hand and all. Which really threw a wrench in his plan. Mustering as much strength as he could (which honestly wasn’t that much), Aster managed to haul himself up the vine, tripping on the edge of the pit and falling directly onto the pirate waiting at the top.

They stared at each other, faces once again far too close for normal comfort. Neither of them moved for a full minute before Leonard turned bright red and rolled off of the other man. He scrambled to his feet quickly and offered to help Stache up, unable to make eye contact. Stache grinned, pulling himself off the ground and giving Leonard a once over, grinning even wider. 

“Thank you. Now, can we  _ please _ get off this god forsaken island?” Leonard nodded.

“Of course.” Without thinking, he grabbed Stache’s hand. The pirate didn’t say a single word about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the shanty "My Jolly Sailor Bold"


End file.
